Yesterday I went on an outing with my cousin and her husband. Along with many hundreds of people we went to the National Art Gallery of Australia to see the Masterpieces From Paris exhibition. I love art and having studied it at school I always jump at the opportunity to see the "real" pieces of art , rather than the reproductions in books - so when I heard that the Post-Impressionist art collection from the Musee D'Orsay in Paris (which is currently being renovated) was coming to Australia I was so excited.

The exhibition contained 112 paintings, including Van Gogh's "Starry Night" (1888) which was just incredible. In a book it looks quite flat but up close it is so beautiful - full of depth, richness and colour - almost glowing. Another painting was "Van Gogh's Bedroom at Arles" (1889) and once again the colours are so vibrant - considering it was painted 120 years ago its just wonderful to look at.

Now that Christmas is done and dusted for another year I can relax and enjoy my week's leave (I have another one in January). I have been sleeping in (until 8:00am) and enjoying breakfast in bed (crumpets and honey + jasmine tea - I make it myself in case you were wondering) and reading for a short while before I decide what I might do for the day!! So far I have been catching up one some: reading (Illegal Action by Stella Rimington - one of those MI5 spy novels)gardening (see below) - I removed a dead shrub and replaced it with 7 small plants and added mulch - still have other areas of the garden to work onbaking - I wish you could smell the lime and macadamia shortbread cooking right this minute:)watching movies (including Emma, the new 2009 4 part BBC production)sleeping (just love those afternoon sleeps - Brenin the Doberman joined me yesterday)shopping at the end-of-year sales - but everything I "needed" wasn't on sale and things I didn't need were.playin…

My youngest son on Christmas morning (he loves this hat and wears in winter or summer)

Ok - the title of this blog doesn't belong to this photo!! This is me on Christmas morning. Quite wide awake considering I was woken by my husband at 4:30 (he has a very sore back and couldn't sleep). I did enjoy an Christmas afternoon sleep for a hour or so.

Charles Wysocki is another folk artist that I just love the work of, they contain such richness of colour and such eye for detail. I am particularly fond of the car series which I have included just a few.

Charles Wysocki was born in 1928 in Detroit of immigrant parents (Polish), dying in 2002 aged 73. He worked for AMCAL and from 1972 his works have been reproduced into calendars, like the one I have in my study of his most famous cats which I will enjoy in 2010.

We are enjoying a cool wet grey day - and even though it may sound strange, its perfect. I love wet rainy days and as we are in such need of rain, it is the best gift to receive on Christmas Day. Heavy rains have been predicted in inland Australia (New South Wales in particular) thanks to Cyclone Laurence and this will be very welcome as some areas haven't had rain in ages and towns are or have run out of water.

Because it is cool (after a very hot week) - roast ham and veggies were very welcome at lunch time and the turkey for dinner will be ideal.

One of the exciting things about the end of the year is the trip to the mall to buy the calendars. I need a calendar for: the fridge doorstudymy desk at workmy pin board at workthe toilet doorEach calendar is carefully selected as I have to live with these for 12 months. Sometimes it can take weeks to find the right ones. This year I have bought the following: Polar bears (mini) calendar for the fridge door Lowell Herrero's "Cows" for the study (all the way from the USA)Cute cats (mini) for my pin-board at workUnusual locations around the world calendar for the toilet door (I try to make this interesting and educational)NOT BOUGHT YET - Still deciding!!! It can get very stressful if I can't find the right ones...ok a little crazy you might be wondering:). Sometimes I go back when the sales are one and the calendars are reduced by 75% buy a few more - just in case. Some are just so beautiful - especially the photograph and art calendars. They are great frames and…

I love pavlova (a meringue based dessert) and so does my family. To me it is the PERFECT summer Christmas dessert. And for this reason I made it tonight for a mini Christmas dinner (as my son and his girlfriend won't be with us on Christmas Day). I have attached a link to the recipe: Pavlova recipe - it is easy to make, but remember don't store the pavlova in the fridge once cooked as it can make it soggy. The pavlova should be crispy on the outside and marshmallow in the middle.

The two pictures below are after I have mixed the ingredients and created the meringue - it should be very glossy and have these lovely peaks.

One of the best parts of making the pavlova is licking the beaters once I have finished, I only ever make it when I am home alone so I get to lick both beaters - just delicious :-)!!!

Once it is cold it is ready to eat - I tend to make the pavlova the day before but not add the cream until we are ready to eat. It will crack, but that is fine - once the whi…

I couldn't go past today without highlighting the fact that Jane Austen was born on this day - the 16th of December, 1775 in the village of Steventon in Hampshire. She was the 7th child of 8. As far as I am concerned she was a most remarkable woman of her times and left us with 6 wonderful books that have been read by millions of women and watched as many different TV/movie versions have been made.

I found a newspaper article (when I was cleaning my desk) that listed the top 20 love stories ever written. Pride and Prejudice was number 2, Sense and Sensibility was number 14 and Persuasion was 18 - I wonder why her books are loved by so many over so many years. She does create wonderful stories with lots of twists and turns plus has handsman men such as Mr Darcy or Captain Wentworth as the love interest. Modern romance novels tend to be trashy, poorly written with no plot following a formula and are all about sex and completely lacking in any morals!

It is always hard getting up in the morning and staying focused at work as I near a week's Christmas holiday break. Just like when I was a child, time travels far too slow - with my mind already thinking about all the activities I will be doing over the festive season and most certainly not thinking about the work I should be doing now. Making it worse, my husband is already on leave - which means its twice as hard going to work.

Today was quite warm (32C - 89.6F) and tomorrow will be even hotter (37C - 98.6F) - but I spend all day in air-conditioning so it doesn't affect me very much. My favourite time in summer is dusk as the sun sets and it starts to get cooler with the gully winds increasing, bringing relief after a hot summers day. Charlie (the cat) and I have been sitting on the front step watching the parrots chat away in the gum trees - I was relaxing and Charlie was dreaming of catching one of these birds.

As I wore pink today I was very interested in this story in the newspaper (on-line) about the "problems" of young girls wearing pink. There is a group in the UK called Pinkstinks who are calling for:

"parents to boycott manufacturers of pink toys and children's clothing on the basis that "pinkification" is herding young girls into "pink alleys" that lead inexorably toward the pink collar career ghetto. The group's website asserts that long-term exposure to pink leads to low self-esteem, poor body image and limited opportunities for girls and women. The campaign "aims to challenge the culture of pink"

What can I say - I must have low self-esteem, poor body image and limited opportunities as I love wearing pink!!

Their aims is to:Inspire, motivate and enthuse girls about the possibilities and opportunities open to themImprove girls’ self esteem and confidence, raise their ambitions and ultimately improve their life chancesTo challenge t…

Very happy with myself - I have sent all my Christmas cards and this afternoon I finished my Christmas shopping (well, not quite, but only 3 gifts to buy). I have also wrapped all the gifts, so my teenage and adult children don't try and sneak a peak!!

The only thing left to do is put up the Christmas tree - my sons, who I thought had outgrown Christmas Trees, said I had been slack.........

May you all have a WONDERFUL weekend - mine is looking very good - trip to the garden shop (one of my favourite places), grocery shopping (not so favourite), then home to put my feet up with a book (I might squeeze in some housework and washing). The weather we have been promised sounds beautiful: 28C (82F) on Saturday and 30C (86F) on Sunday - so some of my book reading will occur outdoors.

I LOVE reading books, I never leave home without on in my bag, I love reading in bed - nothing nicer than curled up on a winters' night with a good book and a cup of chocolate (plus a piece of cake!!). Now there is a new sort of "book" available - one brand is the Kindle (left). There are some pluses with this gadget - it doesn't take up much space (1/3 inch thick), its small and it can hold up to 1,500 books (with 360,000 books to choose from). So all the books I have scattered throughout my house could be contained in one small electronic gadget AND it can read out loud so I wouldn't even need to "read". This one costs $259US

However, it doesn't have that "old book" smell, what would I put around my house if I didn't have all those books (books give home a special feel), what would I do with my book marks and most importantly my eyes after a day on the computer like to have a "rest" from computer screens (however the …

Planes go over us all the time - flying between Sydney and Melbourne and they often leave their tell-tail white line in the sky. Yesterday evening I saw this one - it appears that the plane had done a U-turn in the sky, had the pilot forgotten something? Deciding which way he was going to fly? I thought is was funny?!

Edward Hopper (1882 – 1967) was an American painter known for his melancholy depictions of alienation in everyday life. Eerily realistic, his stark urban and rural scenes are a desolate montage of deserted streets, half-empty theaters, isolated railroad tracks and dreary rooming houses. Originally aspiring to be a Naval architect, Hopper rapidly rose to the status of America’s foremost Realist. Portraying scenes in New York and New England, Hopper underscored their grim nature with sharp lines, large, impersonal shapes, flat expanses of color and hard angles. Although known for his oil paintings, Hopper was also an adept watercolorist and printmaker whose later works shared structural similarities with geometric abstraction. (source: art.com)

Most famous for "Nighthawks" which he painted in 1942 (last painting below) - he also painted these beautiful coastal paintings below. They are just beautiful - full of and light.

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Washing day
Wash on Monday,
Iron of Tuesday,
Mend of Wednesday,
Churn on Thursday,
Clean on Friday,
Bake on Saturday,
Rest on Sunday.
Sometimes the ordinary and mundane have a quiet beauty we haven't really taken much notice of. Today's art is all about the washing on the line and some of these paintings are quite striking.

All quotes used today are by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Enjoy.

"I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all."

"Home is the nicest word there is"

"The true way to live is to enjoy every moment as it passes, and surely it is in the everyday things around us that the beauty of life lies"
And what happens after the washing is dry . . . the ironing!

One of the most popular topics among women Christian bloggers is the issue of whether women and girls should only wear skirts and dresses or is it ok to wear slacks/jeans. Some say Christian women should only wear skirts/dresses, others say it isn't a sin issue therefore it doesn't matter as long as the outfit remains modest. Others say skirts should be to the ground, others are happy at knee length. When you look across the blogs the responses are a mixed bag and it must be confusing to those women trying to decide which way to turn. So what do I think? This is my own personal convictions on the topic and I am not telling anyone else what to wear. I grew up wearing skirts/dresses almost exclusively. All the women in my family - young and old - wore skirts and dresses. I simply wasn't allow to wear anything different. I accepted this quite happierly as a child but as I got older (into my teens) it began to niggle me, partly because I began to stand out which wasn't s…

Art Friday: Susan Wheeler
Illustrator
Todays art is all about cute little mice and bunnies. I think they are adorable and I hope you do to. My favourite is the top one - I just wish I could join them for a cup of tea and scones!

Some families are well off, other families struggle financially, some have periods of poverty, others have burst of wealth. We are all different when it comes to how much money we bring in each week, how much money is in the bank or how big or small our debts are. We are all different, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. However I have noticed a growing trend among some Christian families to share with everyone how poor they are, how much they are struggling, how old the washing machine is or all the things they do without. In fact some bloggers activity encourage women to give up their jobs and return home and live in poverty as this is seen as the ultimate Christian sacrifice (interestingly I have seen this done by women who are so much more financially better off which even worse). Some families do exceptionally well on a very low income and others do very badly on a high income. However, what concerns me is the boastfulness of those who have chosen to live in poverty as if those who…

Who remembers free school milk?
I can.
And yuck . . . warm, creamy milk in glass bottles that tasted horrible.
Why were the bottles always left in the sun to get warm, especially in summer? They could sit for quite sometime until recess, some probably went slighly off!
And if you forgot to shake the bottle you got a mouth full of clumpy cream!
The programme started at the beginning of the 20th century with all children in kindergarten, infant and primary schools receiving free milk to improve their nutrition and general health. Between 1951 and 1973 the Commonwealth Schools’ Free Milk Scheme provided one third of a pint of whole milk per day to primary school children throughout Australia. The scheme ceased om 1973 but reintroduced in 1994.
Providing the milk had cost $72,000 in 1951, whereas it had grown in cost to just over $10 million in 1969. By 1970 the government was starting to wonder if the programme was producing any benefit, except turning children off milk. This document …